How To Tone The Body

How to tone your body and lose weight/gain muscle at home? Looking to tone your body but don’t have access to a gym?

Do not panic, you can start performing exercises at home to tone your body with very little equipment, regardless of your age and current physical condition.

You will find that these are mostly exercises that we have all experienced at some point in our lives without really knowing what they were for. However, these underestimated classic exercises will be invaluable allies to allow you to regain shape and health.

The jumping jack

Let’s start with exercise number 1 to tone your silhouette: the jumping jack! Very complete and excellent in terms of cardio, the jumping jack consists of performing jumps by spreading both your legs and arms and touching your hands above your head. During the exercise, you must keep your abs contracted, you must be straight and well sheathed. You inhale when jumping apart and exhale when landing on the ground.

Like each of the exercises presented to you here, there are alternatives to making the exercise more or less difficult… For example, by accelerating the pace, by adding loads and certain constraints. Thus, the half-jumping jack is simpler than the traditional jumping jack. Indeed, the elevation of the arms stops at shoulder height. This alternative is particularly recommended for people who have fragile shoulders.

Conversely, the jumping jack begins with the hands on the ground, legs bent and feet together. Then, you have to perform a star or X-shaped jump and return to the starting position.

The plank

The second exercise, also excellent for sheathing and to tone your figure at home, is the plank. The principle is simple: lean on your forearms and toes, while ensuring the alignment of the body. It is necessary to contract the belly while remaining straight… This makes it possible to strengthen the deep muscles.

At first, it will seem difficult, but gradually you will manage to hold on longer and tone your body for a long time.

The lunge

The forward lunge exercise is an exercise that you can do easily at home, with or without weights. You start standing with your feet apart – with a spacing that is equal to the width of your shoulders. Then, take a big step forward with the front foot flat and the back foot on pointe.

The lunge consists of bending your knee, until your thigh is horizontal. You should stand up straight, looking forward with a 90° knee angle. The goal is to push the heel of your front foot in order to get back to the initial position. It works your lower body and your balance. Alternatives are “walking lunges”, “stepping lunges” and “jump lunges”, which are more dynamic than traditional exercise.

The squats

Excellent exercise to work the lower body and tone your figure, squats are a great classic.

Stand upright with your legs apart as for lunges. Your feet should be slightly open outward, your arms stretched out in front of you. The goal is to bend your legs and lower your glutes by pushing them back slightly. Continue so that your thighs are parallel to the floor. Then, in this momentum, go back to the initial position and so on…!

There are several alternatives to the classic squat. For example, the sumo squat where the spacing of the feet must be well beyond the width of your shoulders.

Again, by making sure to stay straight and gaining your abs, you will gain muscle toning, directly at home.

The push ups

Everyone knows the principle of push-ups… This exercise works the upper body.

You have to position yourself correctly with your hands flat on the ground under your shoulders, then barely bend your arms and go back up… This often seems difficult at first, but be aware that there are variations on the knees.

In addition, it is also possible to perform push-ups against a wall if necessary. It’s excellent for firming up your body, toning up your silhouette, having a better sheathed stomach… By training regularly at home, you will quickly see the benefits of this exercise!

The Mountain Climber

The Mountain Climber is a complete exercise that also works your cardio. Get into a plank position with your arms outstretched shoulder-width apart. Then, without moving the pelvis, raise one knee, then the other moving towards your chest.

This exercise is highly recommended for people who have knee problems and allows you to do cardio while limiting impacts and therefore pain.

You can vary the difficulty of the exercise by speeding up or decreasing the rhythm of the knee lifts.

Jumping rope

To facilitate weight loss, jumping rope is an effective exercise that you should incorporate into your routine. Jumping rope improves body coordination and allows you to work on your cardio.

By practicing it for just a few minutes a day, you will burn a lot of calories and it will also help you tone your thighs, calves, glutes and abs. Obviously you will need to bring a skipping rope (about ten euros in a sports store) but you can very well start by making “Air skipping rope” that is to say skipping rope without rope (by mimicking the movement).

The Leg Raises

The leg lift is an exercise that builds abdominal muscles. Start by lying on your back with your legs straight and slightly apart. Place your hands flat on the floor, palms down. Then, bend your knees and raise your legs. Extend your tiptoes to bring your abdominal muscles towards your spine. Your abdominals must be contracted so as not to leave space between your lower back and the floor… Gently unbend your knees and raise your legs towards the ceiling as slowly as possible. Finally, slowly lower your legs back down.

If the exercise is difficult at first, you can put your hands under your lower back and/or do not fully stretch your legs.

The dips against a wall

The Dips exercise against a wall will strengthen your triceps! Place your hands flat against a wall at face height and shoulder width apart. Extend your arms then tilt your body forward, bending your arms. It’s a bit the same principle as when you do push-ups on the ground except that this time you do it vertically. Remember to contract your triceps (the muscle behind your arm) for the exercise to be as effective as possible.

The yoga push-up

Finally, derived from yoga, very complete, the Yoga push up exercise is a great exercise to tone you up. Position yourself on the ground, like a quadruped. Extend one leg at a time and adopt a push-up position with your legs straight but a little wider than normal. The elbows are stretched and the gaze towards the ground. Then, lower down by retracting your shoulder blades, making sure your arms are parallel until your chest makes contact with the floor. Then return to the original position by extending your elbows, palms pressed into the floor. As you straighten your arms, let them extend above your head.

From now on and in view of the harmful effects of a sedentary lifestyle on health, you have all the cards in hand to strengthen and refine your figure for free from home.

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I hope you enjoyed this ” how to tone the body ” blog post and found it useful. Comment down below what you think, do you agree, or share with us other ways to tone our figure.

Looking forward to reading your comments, sending you love and positive energy!!!